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EIS-0380: Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement

for Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

NNSA proposes to continue operating Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which is located in Los Alamos County in north-central New Mexico. NNSA has identified and assessed three alternatives for continued operation of LANL: (1) No Action, (2) Reduced Operations, and (3) Expanded Operations. Under the No Action Alternative, NNSA would continue the historical mission support activities conducted at LANL at currently approved operational levels. Under the Reduced Operations Alternative, NNSA would eliminate some activities and limit the operations of other activities. Under the Expanded Operations Alternative, NNSA would operate LANL at the highest levels of activity currently foreseeable, including full implementation of mission assignments. Expanded Operations is NNSA’s Preferred Alternative. NNSA intends to implement actions necessary to comply with the March 2005 Compliance Order on Consent (Consent Order) to address the investigation and remediation of environmental contamination at LANL, regardless of decisions it makes on other actions analyzed in the SWEIS. Under all of the alternatives, the affected environment is primarily within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of LANL. Analyses indicate little difference in the environmental impacts of the alternatives on many resource areas. The primary discriminators are public risk due to radiation exposure, collective worker risk due to radiation exposure, socioeconomic effects due to LANL employment changes, electrical power and water demand, waste management, and transportation. A classified appendix assesses the potential impacts of terrorist acts.